Philadelphia City Controller Christy Brady takes office and will start by reviewing the city’s antiviolence grants

Newly elected City Controller Christy Brady was sworn into office last week and will start her tenure as the city’s chief fiscal watchdog by reviewing antiviolence grants the city made to community groups.

Brady, a Democrat, was sworn in during a quiet ceremony Thursday, just after the results of the Nov. 7 general election were certified. The former acting controller, Brady won a special election held because former Controller Rebecca Rhynhart resigned in 2022 to run for mayor.

That means Brady will serve out the remaining two years of Rhynhart’s term and was able to take office immediately — about four weeks prior to Mayor-elect Cherelle Parker, whose first day will be Jan. 2.

During a news conference Monday morning, Brady outlined priorities for the office where she has spent three decades rising through the ranks. She said staff have already asked the Kenney administration for information so they can review the city’s $22 million Community Expansion Grant program, which was launched in 2021 to fund grassroots groups working to stem gun violence.

In April, The Inquirer reported that the program sent millions of dollars to organizations, some of which were tiny nonprofits without the infrastructure in place to manage the money, leaving thousands of dollars unaccounted for and millions unspent. Some of the groups that were awarded money did not have boards of directors or paid employees.

» READ MORE: Philly poured $22M into an anti-violence grant program. It picked some groups unable to deliver on their proposals.

The review is already underway, but Brady could not offer a timeline for its completion and public release.

Brady said her office will also prioritize reviewing the Department of Licenses and Inspections’ record of enforcing unlicensed properties and workers, citing the recent 10-year anniversary of the deadly collapse on Market Street.

“While many demolition and construction regulations have been put in place since then, construction-related collapses and fatalities have continued,” she said.

Brady said she hopes to have a working relationship with Parker and that she believes they “have some common goals that we’re going to be working together going forward.”

» READ MORE: Calls for reform followed the Market Street collapse. Residents are still endangered by “construction destruction.”

But the relationship between controller and mayor has often been fraught. Former Mayor Michael Nutter and then-Controller Alan Butkovitz feuded often — and publicly. Butkovitz later unsuccessfully ran for mayor.

Rhynhart came into office in 2018 with a goal of having a better working relationship with Mayor Jim Kenney, saying that she could recommend policy shifts and that the administration could implement them. But Rhynhart’s relationship with Kenney soured, and members of his administration accused her of using the position to further her own political career.

Asked about her political ambitions given two recent predecessors ran for mayor, Brady — a certified public accountant who first came into the office as an entry-level auditor — said: “I love what I do.”

“This is where I always thought I would retire,” she said.